As Wall Street continued its nosedive, and markets around the world shuddered, John McCain's campaign launched an unrelentingly nasty assault on Barack Obama. Sarah Palin accused Obama of "palling around with terrorists." McCain co-chair Frank Keating smeared him as a drug-using "guy of the street." McCain contemptuously called him "that...

In Debate II, John McCain twice laid out the criteria for how the American people should judge the candidates: In tough times, we need someone with a steady hand on the tiller.

By that measure, Obama was the clear winner. He was centered where McCain was scattered. Forceful where McCain...

The McCain campaign is all set to roll out its message for the last 30 days of the campaign: "We may not be good for your bank account, your mortgage, your health care, or your job security -- but none of that will matter if you are dead. John McCain:...

When it comes to leadership, this week proved we are living in a moment of mediocrities -- a long moment. Sarah Palin, wearing her ignorance like a beauty pageant tiara, was "annoyed" that she was asked actual questions by Katie Couric. George Bush looked the worst economic crisis since the...

I watched the vice presidential debate in a ballroom at the Four Seasons hotel in Aviara, just north of San Diego, along with a couple of hundred women attending Fortune's Most Powerful Women Summit -- a receptive audience, you would think, for a debate featuring a woman who might become...

Ronald Reagan, in his first inaugural address, famously declared that "government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem."

Twenty-seven years later, in the midst of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, and seven-plus years into the reign of Bush and Cheney, Reagan's...

How busy imploding was John McCain this week? Over three crisis-laden days, he couldn't find the time to read Sec. Paulson's original 3-page bailout plan. How not-ready-for-prime-time was Sarah Palin? When pressed to cite an example of McCain pushing for oversight of Wall Street, she told Katie Couric: "I'll try...

Tonight's debate was a political Rorschach test. Wherever you were at 8:59 pm ET, you were at 10:36 pm (the debate ran a few minutes long).

It was a good night for Obama because, when 83 percent of the country believe we are on the wrong track, standing toe-to-toe with...

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: bipartisanship in service of bad legislation is not a good thing.

And, make no mistake, this bailout bill -- at least if the details that are trickling out are accurate -- is going to be very bad legislation indeed. And by...

See if this sounds familiar:

There is a gathering threat to the safety of the United States. We must take immediate action. Congress must quickly grant the President and the Secretary what they want and also give them full and unfettered authority to execute the plan.

Welcome to Economic Shock...

A new poll this week showed Sarah Palin's approval ratings nosediving -- especially among women. It's as if she had been the new guest at a long-running dinner party: at first we were grateful for the new blood and, after oft-repeated tales of fighter pilot heroism and Harvard Law...

Watching John McCain thundering against Wall Street greed is like tuning into to the old Lawrence Welk show to find him doing a polka version of a hard-core rap song ("A-one and a-two, motherfucker!").

Speaking yesterday outside an auto plant in Grand Rapids, Michigan, McCain read his populist rhetoric...

Sarah Palin may not have known what the Bush Doctrine was, but we're getting a pretty good idea of what the Palin Doctrine is. Or will be -- because it's still currently under construction. And what is it going to look like? Let's just say, it's going to seem familiar.

This week's campaign sleazefest brought to mind G. K. Chesterton's remark: "If there is one thing worse than the modern weakening of major morals, it is the modern strengthening of minor morals." So the media burns up hours of airtime arguing about "lipstick on a pig," while spending little...

Back in February 2007, I wrote about the role casting would play in the presidential race, and the American public's readiness to replace the John Wayne take-no-crap-cowboy model of leadership with a Gregory Peck-does-Atticus Finch archetype.

Given Obama's sense of moral obligation and social responsibility, and his "audacity...

Did Sarah Palin wrongfully push to have her ex-brother-in law fired? Was she really against the "Bridge to Nowhere?" Did she really sell Alaska's plane on eBay, or just list it on eBay? Did she actually have any substantial duties commanding the Alaska National Guard?

The correct answer to all...

In asserting this week that the surge has "succeeded beyond our wildest dreams," Obama was buying into the Republicans' framing on Iraq. As the Shiite-run Iraqi government is rounding up the Sunni leaders of the Awakening who were at the heart of the reduction in violence, political reconciliation --...

During his acceptance speech, John McCain had some very strong criticism of his opponent. I'm not talking about Barack Obama; I'm talking about George Bush. After rushing headlong into the embrace of Bush and the Rovian wing of the GOP, McCain has now decided that he desperately needs to...

The GOP is intent on keeping George Bush -- and his disastrous legacy -- as far away from John McCain and the convention as possible. If they could have had him beam in his speech via satellite from Mars rather than Washington, they would have.

But with McCain closely aligning...

Walking through the Xcel Energy Center, I encountered a group of African-American Republicans, and asked them for their take on the historic nature of Barack Obama's nomination, and whether it left them with conflicted feelings. Check it out: